HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA Shares Acquired by Sunbelt Securities Inc.

Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 171.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,242 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,945 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $2,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HCA. Amundi grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 56.9% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 615,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,087,000 after buying an additional 222,969 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Elite Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth about $820,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 49.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 53,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,252,000 after purchasing an additional 17,634 shares during the period. Finally, Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,280.0% in the first quarter. Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd now owns 207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting HCA Healthcare

Here are the key news stories impacting HCA Healthcare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HCA reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $7.59 per share, narrowly exceeding the $7.56 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 8.7% year over year to $20.23 billion and surpassed expectations. The earnings beat and strong revenue growth likely supported investor confidence in the hospital operator. Almost all of HCA’s Affordable Care Act patients are going uninsured. Here’s how that affected Q2
• Positive Sentiment: Despite lowering its price target from $525 to $475, Mizuho maintained an “outperform” rating, indicating it still sees meaningful upside for HCA after the post-earnings reassessment. Mizuho HCA price-target update
• Positive Sentiment: HCA declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 16. The dividend provides ongoing shareholder return, although its indicated yield is relatively modest. HCA dividend announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: HCA appointed new hospital leadership, naming Jordan Fulkerson chief financial officer of HCA Florida Memorial Hospital and promoting a new chief executive for two Tampa-area hospitals. The changes are unlikely to materially affect near-term valuation. Jordan Fulkerson named CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms reduced HCA price targets following the quarterly report. Oppenheimer, Truist, KeyCorp, Barclays and Baird all lowered their targets, suggesting analysts remain concerned about the outlook even though most retained positive or neutral ratings. HCA analysts slash forecasts after Q2 results
• Negative Sentiment: Nearly all of HCA’s Affordable Care Act patients reportedly became uninsured, raising concerns about payer mix, uncompensated care and reimbursement pressure. ACA patient coverage impact
• Negative Sentiment: Dogwood notified North Carolina officials that HCA may be in “potential noncompliance” with its Mission Hospital sale contract, adding regulatory and operational risk. Mission Hospital sale contract concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of HCA investors. The announcement may add legal overhang, although it does not establish wrongdoing. Pomerantz investor alert

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Weiss Ratings lowered HCA Healthcare from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $528.00 price target on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $558.00 to $485.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $476.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $465.05.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 7.3%

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $417.94 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $386.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.53. The firm has a market cap of $92.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.12. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $339.82 and a fifty-two week high of $556.52.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.56 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.76 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 244.79%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.84 EPS. Analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 10.45%.

HCA Healthcare Profile

HCA Healthcare is a for‑profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company’s core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA’s services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.